Emergency Management and Hidalgo County Sheriff | Drones
Hidalgo County has run a drone program since 2016, with a written policy since 2017. In July 2026 the Commissioners Court approved more than half a million dollars of drones for the Sheriff's Office in a single meeting.
At a glance
- Who flies them
- Hidalgo County Emergency Management holds the original program. The 2017 policy covers law enforcement, the fire marshals, the planning department and the precincts, and by 2024 the Sheriff's Office and Precinct 1 were buying their own [2] [3] [6]
- Since when
- August 2016, when the Court approved a sole source declaration for unmanned aircraft and bought a turnkey drone program the same day [1]
- How many
- Not stated as a total. Nine were bought in May 2021, a twin pack in March 2024, and the county adds each new aircraft to its insurance policy by a separate payment item [4] [5] [6]
- A written policy
- Yes. The Court approved a Hidalgo County Unmanned Aerial System Program Policy on 7 March 2017 [3]
- What the policy says
- Not in the record. The minutes record its approval and the County Executive Officer's summary of its scope, not its text [3]
- Recent spending
- $270,000.00 of Department of Justice funds appropriated for Sheriff's Office drones and $264,650.35 of ANAFI UKR drone equipment, both approved on 21 July 2026 [7]
How it happened
- Procurement
A sole source, and a program bought whole
The Court approves an exemption from competitive procurement and a sole source declaration for Drone Dynamics, LLC for unmanned aircraft systems for Emergency Management and any other county office, then buys "The Complete Professional Services UAV Robotics Program" for one year, including legal, regulatory and public relations consultation, operator training and a public safety deployment equipment bundle, for $109,304.00. [1]
- Decision
A policy, before most of the aircraft
The Court approves a county Unmanned Aerial System Program Policy. The County Executive Officer tells the Court it will address the use of drones by law enforcement, the fire marshals, planning and the precincts. [3]
- Decision
The first vendor is let go
The Court approves exercising the county's option to terminate the Drone Dynamics service agreement on thirty days' written notice, nine months after granting the sole source. [2]
- Procurement
Nine drones, on consent
Emergency Management buys nine drones and accessories through a purchasing cooperative on two requisitions, $35,916.40 and $48,968.64, in the consent block. [4]
- Procurement
A tactical drone
A BRINC Lemur 2 Twin Pack bundle with a five year license, $19,999.00 a year, on the consent agenda. A second year of it is appropriated from Department of Justice funds in October 2025. [5]
- Expansion
Half a million dollars in one meeting
The Court appropriates $270,000.00 of Department of Justice funds for Sheriff's Office drones and approves $264,650.35 of ANAFI UKR drone equipment through a purchasing cooperative. Both pass unanimously. [7]
Hidalgo County’s drone program is unusual in this project’s records for one reason: the county wrote a policy first.
The program, bought whole
In August 2016 the Commissioners Court made two decisions in one item. It granted a sole source declaration to Drone Dynamics, LLC for unmanned aircraft systems, naming Emergency Management and extending to every other county office. Then it bought “The Complete Professional Services UAV Robotics Program” for one year, for $109,304.00. The package included legal, regulatory and public relations consultation, best practices consultation, an operator training and certification program, and a public safety deployment equipment bundle.
Nine months later the Court exercised its option to terminate the service agreement on thirty days’ notice. The record does not say why.
The policy
In March 2017, between those two decisions, the Court approved a Hidalgo County Unmanned Aerial System Program Policy. The County Executive Officer told the Court that the policy would address the use of drones by law enforcement, the fire marshals, planning and the precincts.
That is the whole of what the minutes record about it. The policy’s text is not in the Commissioners Court’s published record, so a resident can learn that their county has drone rules, and that those rules cover the Sheriff, without being able to read them.
The fleet, counted by its insurance
The county buys drones in batches and adds each aircraft to a fleet insurance policy, and those payment items are the only running count in the record. Nine drones and accessories went to Emergency Management in May 2021, on consent, across two requisitions of $35,916.40 and $48,968.64. A BRINC Lemur 2 Twin Pack with a five year license followed in March 2024, at $19,999.00 a year, and its second year was appropriated from Department of Justice funds in October 2025. Between those, single-drone insurance endorsements appear at $403.00, $396.00, $431.00, $141.00 for one in use from Precinct 1, $3,469.00 for three at once, and $713.00.
2026
On 21 July 2026 the Court approved two drone items for the Sheriff’s Office in the same meeting: an appropriation of $270,000.00 of Department of Justice funds for the purchase of drones, and the purchase of ANAFI UKR drone equipment through the Omnia Partners cooperative for $264,650.35. Both passed unanimously.
Those two figures in one meeting are larger than everything the county spent on drones in the previous ten years. The record does not say whether they are the same purchase counted twice, one funding the other, or two separate fleets.
What we do not know
- What the county's Unmanned Aerial System Program Policy says, and whether it has been revised since 2017.
- How many drones Hidalgo County operates, which department holds each one, and what sensors they carry.
- Whether any county drone has been flown over a crowd, a protest, a home or a private property, and under what authority.
- How long drone footage is kept, who can view it, and whether it is shared with other agencies.
- What the $270,000.00 of Department of Justice funds approved in July 2026 bought, and how it relates to the ANAFI purchase approved the same day.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Hidalgo County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Hidalgo County →Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
- 1.
- 2.
- 3. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, minutes, 7 March 2017, item AI-58851, Unmanned Aerial System Program Policy · Meeting record · · accessed
- 4. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, consent minutes, 18 May 2021, item AI-80839, nine drones for Emergency Management · Meeting record · · accessed
- 5. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, consent minutes, 5 March 2024, item AI-94435, BRINC Lemur 2 Twin Pack drone bundle · Meeting record · · accessed
- 6.
- 7.
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